Hierophant Nox

DEMO REVIEW

Det Vidaapne Gap - Temple of the Mind
Unsigned

To begin this review I must simply say that I am massively impressed by Det Vidaapne Gap. The project is the work of Nevresch, the songwriter behind Hat, whose potential has been clearly on show since that band’s debut demo a couple of years ago, but is realised beyond anyone’s expectation on “Temple of the Mind”, a vast, eerie, cultish monster of a release. That there’s only two real tracks to get your teeth stuck into is a frustrating tease, but as both run to nearly nine minutes, there’s plenty of time to become immersed in Det Vidaapne Gap’s terrifying world.

With these compositions, Nevresch advances the mixture of ‘grand and raw’ that has always been his talent, but in doing so in such a weirdly esoteric way he gives this demo an aura that at times reminds me of the incredible Slagmaur. The most majestic, primal black metal meets with a skill for ambience, whilst the song structuring, although lengthy, is very carefully considered. “The Temple” is the more coherent of the two tracks, with the echoey, cascading guitar line that ties it all together and the driving catchiness at its core, but there’s something to be said of the way that “Naar Solen Gaar Vekk” is constructed too. Also possessed of a very memorable guitar line, it turns corners more often than the second track, changing direction entirely but not destroying the painstakingly established atmosphere.

“The Temple of the Mind” benefits from the guest vocals of Nevresch’s Hat collaborator, Undertrykker, whose classic, throaty roar has all the poise and threat needed to push this demo from interesting to, at times, sublime. The meandering exploration of the icy, evocatively primal guitar makes this a mysterious, unsettling release, and while straightforward, cavernous classic black metal sections abound, it’s the ‘otherness’ and the echoing, weird atmosphere that makes this one of the best demos I’ve heard in quite some time.